Mapping the Moral Compass: The relationships between in-house lawyers’ role, professional orientations, team cultures, organisational pressures, ethical infrastructure and ethical inclination

Steven Vaughan, Richard Moorhead

Research output: Other contribution

Abstract

This is a survey of 400 in-house lawyers working in public, third and commercial sectors. We set out here the findings at the highest level. A number of organisations assisted with the distribution of the survey. This report provides a unique profile of real differences within the in-house community. We examine individual and team orientations to the in-house role; the invocation of professional principles; and ethical infrastructure, ethical pressure and relationships with the employer. We relate these to externally validated indicators of ethical inclination: (i) moral attentiveness (the extent to which people deal with problems as moral problems and the extent to which people identify moral problems); and (ii) moral disengagement (the extent to which people are inclined to morally disengage to behave unethically without feeling distress). It is as rich a picture of what it means to be an ethical inhouse
lawyer as has ever been attempted.
Original languageEnglish
Type'Mapping the Moral Compass' - report of online survey of 400 in-house lawyers
Media of outputOnline Report
PublisherUCL Centre for Ethics and Law
Number of pages122
Place of PublicationOnline
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

Part I of the ETHICAL LEADERSHIP FOR IN-HOUSE LAWYERS INITIATIVE

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